Archive for March, 2006

Porn Studs

Porn Studs: The Toronto Star and TIME magazine both notice the appearance of university courses in ‘Pornography Studies’.

Figuring it out

Figuring it out: Aha; I’ve found the source for the Oct 2005 DCMS claim that… “Over the next decade 9.6 million jobs will be created in multimedia and software sectors across the EU” (words from Tessa Jowell’s speech). The claim seems to arise from estimates in a MKW paper issued in 2001 by the European […]

XP on a Mac

XP on a Mac: At last, a good reason to buy an Apple Mac; it can run Windows XP (here’s how). There are no ‘XP for Macs’ video drivers yet, but it can only be a matter of time. Given that a Mac-native Photoshop CS3 looks like shipping in Q3 2007 – up to nine […]

Triumph of the quill

Triumph of the quill: Andrew Sullivan, in today’s Sunday Times, offers a wide-ranging commentary on the importance of cartoons to free speech.

Teresa Neptune

Teresa Neptune: Teresa Neptune‘s photography galleries. Neptune has a newspaper profile here.

St. Peter

St. Peter: There’s a new fund to support one of our national treasures, namely Peter Tatchell and his tireless work in campaigning for human rights. Donating is a ‘print & post a cheque’ job; there’s no PayPal, yet. Also: read Peter’s reasons for speaking at today’s Freedom of Expression rally in London.

New photo

New photo: This ‘scene on a slab’ reminded me of a venerable age-stained Chinese scroll-painting of two mountains… (large version, 160kb)

“Copy? Right, er…”

“Copy? Right, er…”: I’ve noticed a significant number of visual arts students with a sudden desire to step sideways into copywriting. They’ve apparently been told: there’s a national shortage of copywriters; anyone can ‘get in’; all you need is a portfolio ‘book’; your qualifications & C.V. are not really important, you just phone around and […]

PayPal via SMS

Pay Phone: Interesting; PayPal via SMS text message, on your mobile phone. In the UK, within “weeks”. Instant and robust ‘payment received’ feedback for vendors, I would guess, is going to be the key to success.

Street type (photograph)

Street type: What to do after the gas man calls? Umm… go and photograph the public street typography of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Oh, what an exciting life I lead.

BritPhot

BritPhot: My 4,000-word draft of British Photography: towards a brief historical outline is now in version 1.2. (PDF, 45kb)

Fock

Fock: (large version, 100kb)

LateBytes

LateBytes: With a now-customary lack of advance publicity, the 2006 Sheffield LoveBytes festival sneaks up on an unsuspecting arts intelligentsia with two days to go.

Nurnberg (Juergen Teller, new work)

Nurnberg: Paris Voice covers the new show by Juergen Teller (German-born British fashion photographer), and his new series Nurnberg, made in abandoned Nazi propaganda centres. There are several reasonably large Nurnberg in-gallery photos here, along with – admirably – the entire show’s pictures. There’s a March ’06 interview here.

App mishap (MS vs. Adobe)

App mishap: It seems Microsoft have frozen development on their “Expression Graphic Designer” suite, until after the new MS Vista O/S launches. Meanwhile, Adobe Creative Suite 3 looks as though it might ship around Christmas 2006 or early 2007. It seems we might get an on-the-fly ‘grab & tilt’ rotating canvas for Photoshop CS3, which […]

Duane Michals

Duane Michals: The Boston Globe on a new Duane Michals photography show.

Educashun, educashun, educashun

Educashun, educashun, educashun: Didn’t think the government’s drastic cuts in adult education and evening-classes would have much affect? The two large colleges serving Stoke-on-Trent have just announced a massive 205 staff redundancies, as a direct result. 143,000 places on evening classes are to be cut across the West Midlands.

New Cartier-Bresson film

Cartier-Bresson: Any new feature-length documentary on a photographer is welcome, especially when it’s about Cartier-Bresson. The new edition of the Digital Journalist reviews the new film.

Ferret ‘cross the Mersey

Ferret ‘cross the Mersey: With a little more than 18 months until Liverpool’s Capital of Culture year starts, The Guardian goes ferretting behind the scenes.

Lulu in Euroland

Lulu in Euroland: Just announced; www.lulu.com are to set up a printing plant in Holland, and a London office in the summer. I’m not sure if that’ll mean cheaper shipping of books to the UK or not. In my experience, shipping of books from the USA is often cheaper than from mainland Europe.